Fueled by winds, 375-acre fire in Putnam County likely to spread

Posted: April 7, 2012 - 4:41pm

UPDATE: Windy conditions helped spread the fire southward and 450 acres were on fire by 7:30 p.m., Florida Forest Service spokesperson Ludie Bond said. She said winds typically subside in the evening, so the fire was expected to slow during in the night. The fire was 70 percent contained by Saturday evening, which means crews had placed containment lines around 70 percent of the fire, she said. It will not be considered under control for some time.

A fire that started this morning in Putnam County has ballooned into a 375-acre timber fire in the Mondex area near Palatka off State Road 19, Florida Forest Service spokesperson Ludie Bond said.

Winds blowing from the north helped spread the flames, and crews are working to get containment lines around the Eight Mile fire, she said. The fire could be spreading southward.

“It probably is going to get larger,” Bond said. “This is not the time to do any kind of outdoor burning…when the winds are so strong.”

No homes are immediately threatened and no roadways are affected at this time, she said. No one has been injured in the fire, but one citizen’s truck has been destroyed.

The Florida Forest Service is on scene with tractors and brush trucks. Greenways and Trails, part of the Department of Environmental Protection, along with officials from the St. Johns Water Management district are helping fight the fire, she said. The U.S. Forest Service out of Ocala has sent in a helicopter to assist as well.